Abuse of Trans Inmates in San Francisco?

The San Francisco Sheriff's Department is investigating a report that some staff have been calling transgender inmates "faggots."

The allegations, which a trans inmate recently shared with the Bay Area Reporter, come as the agency's been working to improve treatment of trans inmates. Eileen Hirst, chief of staff for Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, said a staff member reported the claims last week.

Serentiy Lupe Romero, 21, has been in custody since November and faces several charges, including first-degree burglary. In a March 4 jailhouse interview, she referred to the six other transgender inmates she's being housed with in County Jail #4, the men's facility at 850 Bryant Street, and said staff "treat us with disrespect. They call us 'faggots,'" use the wrong pronouns, and don't provide bras and underwear, she said.

"A lot of the officers" have made the anti-trans comments, she said, but one, who she knows only as Deputy McDowell, has been particularly problematic and is abusive "every time he comes into contact with our cell."

Fearing retaliation, Romero said she hadn't complained, but she said other trans inmates "have filed plenty" of grievances. She declined to share the names of the inmates who've complained.

Romero additionally said that she and other trans inmates have been called "punk" and "sissy" as they've walked past male inmates, who've also made remarks like "You're a man," and "Shit and cum don't make babies." The last time it happened was "weeks ago," she said.

Romero said she'd reported it to a deputy, "but nothing ever happened." Deputies have previously witnessed the behavior and didn't say anything, she said.

In a phone interview, Hirst said a complaint was received last week. She declined to say what the specific allegations were.

"Because it's now an investigation, there's very little I can say to you about it ... but it's essentially what you said to me," Hirst told a reporter who had shared Romero's claims with her.

"The source came to us reporting what they had been told by the transgender inmates, so we opened the investigation immediately," Hirst said. It was a staff member who had made the report, she said. She couldn't say whether the allegations were against one particular person.

She also couldn't share McDowell's first name or provide contact information, but agreed to share a reporter's phone number with him. McDowell hasn't called.

The investigation "is going to take as long as it takes" to interview the prisoners and staff involved, Hirst said. She didn't know how common such investigations were.

"It's really upsetting to be called a pronoun that isn't yours, and to be called names, and that's got to stop, so hopefully it will," Hirst said.

A 2015 B.AR. review of sheriff's department grievance data showed complaints about staff were among the least frequent. The agency doesn't break down inmate grievance data by sexual orientation or gender identity.

Romero, whose bail has been set at $715,000, said, "I try not to cry. I try not to show emotion. They would eat you alive in here, if you know what I mean. This is not a good place, and I can't wait to get out. I would not wish this on my worst enemy."

In response to an email from the B.A.R. , Eugene Cerbone, the president of the San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs' Association, said a facility commander told him the report that's being investigated is "not true."

"As a gay man who has worked in the custody division since 1998, I can tell you that whenever I was called a faggot and other choice words, it was never by my co-workers, it was by the inmates," Cerbone said.

He added, "I believe it is irresponsible to write articles based on hearsay disguised as fact. ... [T]he San Francisco Sheriff's Department has many LGBTQ deputies amongst its ranks, and we as gay deputies would never tolerate that kind of anti-gay language in the work place from our peers."

Cerbone said he was told the person who made the report "is a civilian who never reported this allegation to anyone at the facility, including the supervisors, as they should have," and among other points, Cerbone said, "The inmates themselves also have the ability to speak with supervisors 24 hours a day."

Housing Policy 'Starting from Scratch'

Former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi announced last year he planned to stop classifying transgender inmates who have not had surgery according to their birth sex, and the department has been doing sensitivity training on trans issues.

"Training for deputies started in late December" under Mirkarimi, Hirst said, and "it is ongoing" and "quite in-depth."

Hennessy "is very concerned about moving the housing as soon as she can" said Hirst, who noted that Hennessy met with trans advocates on her first full day in office in January, and discussions have continued.

But Hirst said it's "hard to know" when trans inmates would move, "because when we got here there had been no work done on any policy around that."

The statement contradicts what Mirkarimi had said before he lost his re-election bid to Hennessy. There had only been "a pronouncement," Hirst said, without the "policy and training and everything that has to go into successful implementation. We're starting from scratch."

She said there "had been nothing left behind" when Mirkarimi left.

The work Hennessy's staff is doing "is not political hyperbole and smoke blowing," Hirst said.

The agency has also been working on expanding programming opportunities for trans inmates, which was another goal Mirkarimi announced last year.